• May drops £65 fee for EU nationals seeking post-Brexit settled status: The government will waive the planned fee for EU nationals living in the UK to apply for settled status after Brexit, Theresa May said in an update to the Commons. The Prime Minister laid out what she described as the lessons from a week of talks with other parties and also rejected either a second referendum or an article 50 extension. Other lessons beyond the change to the fee policy saw Mrs May argue that ruling out a no-deal departure, as sought by Labour, was only possible by revoking or extending Article 50. May also dismissed the idea of a second referendum as something that would “damage social cohesion by undermining faith in our democracy”. The other three issues laid out by the Prime Minister were efforts to reassure MPs on the Irish border backstop; giving more details on a future relationship, including confidential committee sessions with MPs; and guarantees on environmental standards and workers’ rights. (The Guardian)
  • No second vote on Brexit deal likely before February, says Downing Street: Downing Street has said that Parliament is unlikely to have a second binding vote on Theresa May’s Brexit deal until February. Mrs May’s spokesman said that the vote due to be held on 29 January was not “a second meaningful vote” and the government’s motion would not explain in detail the next stage of the Prime Minister’s plan to get a Brexit agreement through Parliament. Instead, it is likely to be a vehicle for multiple solutions from backbench and opposition MPs. Downing Street also said that the Prime Minister would continue to hold talks with MPs across parties. (The Guardian)
  • Cross-party Brexit talks resume: Cross-party Brexit talks between the government and backbench MPs have resumed despite Theresa May’s insistence that her first priority is to reach out to hardline Tory Brexiters and the Democratic Unionist party over the issue of the Northern Ireland backstop. The anti-Brexit campaigners Chuka Umunna and Anna Soubry were among a group of MPs who arrived at the Cabinet Office for a pre-arranged meeting with May’s de facto deputy, David Lidington, and the Downing Street chief of staff, Gavin Barwell. (The Guardian)
  • Michel Barnier rebuffs UK attempt to renegotiated backstop plan: Theresa May told Parliament that her Brexit ‘plan B’ would centre on renegotiating measures to prevent a hard border with Ireland, an initiative that was immediately rebuffed by the EU’s chief negotiator. Michel Barnier, Brussels’ Brexit negotiator, called on Mrs May to focus instead on negotiating a “more ambitious” future relationship with the EU rather than attempting changes to the backstop, describing the withdrawal treaty that Westminster rejected last week as the “best possible” deal. (FT)
  • Government defeated in Lords as peers vote to hold up trade bill until ministers reveal more about post-Brexit plans: The government has been defeated in the Lords over its plans for post-Brexit trade deals. Peers voted by 243 to 208, majority 35, to block the trade bill’s report stage until they get fuller details of the plans. The move has no impact on the four days of committee stage debate on the bill, although it will mean the measure’s subsequent report stage will not start until the government has complied with Labour’s demand to give Parliament more details on how international trade agreements will be struck and scrutinised after Brexit. (The Guardian)
  • IMF: no-deal Brexit and Chinese slump are biggest economic risks: A no-deal Brexit and a sharper slowdown in China are the biggest risks to growth in the global economy in 2019, the International Monetary Fund has stated in its latest economic outlook. The IMF said an escalation of the trade war between Donald Trump and Beijing over the coming months and the UK’s exit from the EU without a deal would force further downgrades in its forecasts for growth. The Washington-based organisation said global growth would weaken from 3.7% in 2018 to 3.5% this year, down 0.2 percentage points from its prediction last October. (The Guardian)
  • Economic confidence falls amid escalating Brexit fears: The most recent Boardroom Bellwether survey, conducted twice a year by ICSA, the governance body, in conjunction with the Financial Times, found that 73% of FTSE 350 company secretaries predicted their company would be damaged as a result of Brexit, a sharp rise on the proportion last summer, when 42% thought this would be the case. Sentiment around prospects for the world economy have also deteriorated significantly, with just over one in 10 believing that global economic conditions are likely to improve over the next 12 months, down from a quarter in August. (FT)